EU seeks Mideast influence by building Palestinian state

(BRUSSELS) - Europe is obliged to follow the US lead in Middle East peace moves but hopes to gain influence by helping finance the construction of a new Palestinian state, analysts said Wednesday.

Holding little or no sway over Israel, the EU has instead sent hundreds of millions of euros each year in humanitarian aid and will undoubtedly help fund the second of the "two states" outlined in the Middle East roadmap.

"The EU is always the one, in some ways, to pick up the Palestinian tab," said Clara Marina O'Donnell, researcher at the London-based think-tank the Centre for European Reform.

"If the EU wants to have more influence, it has to improve its image and its clout in Israel's eye. Israel still trusts particularly the US, and does not trust the EU, in some ways, to be a reliable actor or to deliver," she said.

This could come via reconstruction.

Through the Annapolis conference Tuesday, which might help re-launch the long-dormant "peace process", the United States has seized some initiative in a region where its image has been badly tarnished by the war on Iraq.

Washington's influence on the way ahead was clear.

"The United States will monitor and judge the fulfillment of the commitment of both sides of the roadmap," said a joint Israeli-Palestinian document committing them to pursue a peace deal by the end of next year.

Yet with US President George W. Bush involved again, the EU appeared satisfied to play a more supportive role, committing to build on efforts it is already making, most of them financial.

The EU runs a police mission and a border monitoring operation in the Palestinian territories, but its money has been in greatest demand: around one billion euros (1.48 billion dollars) this year.

After Annapolis, the EU affirmed its "engagement to further strengthen its ongoing programmes to foster the economic and financial development of a future Palestinian state through the continuation of assistance."

However the Palestinians' representative in Europe, Leila Shahid, expressed regret Wednesday that the EU had "dropped out" of the Middle East process "at a time when the Americans are coming back."

Barah Mikail, at the Institute for International and Strategic Relations in Paris, said: "The only role the EU seems to be able to play is that of a milking cow and a builder of projects."

But he warned that Europe needs to take a tougher line.

"When the EU builds these projects and Israel destroys them, the EU never takes a firm stance condemning the destruction, so it does not win any respect," he said.

However the 27-nation bloc has also prepared an "action plan", to improve security and law and order, allow people and goods to move more easily and hopefully boost economic activity.

In the long term, Brussels wants to help resolve so-called "final status issues" like the thorny problem of Jerusalem as a future capital, and the return of Palestinian refugees.

Middle East specialist Rosemary Hollis, from the Chatham House think-tank in London, believes the EU could still play a key role, drawing parallels to a European push to get Yasser Arafat's PLO involved in peace talks in the 1990s.

"For all we know there is some behind the scenes stuff for the Europeans to do that will then become mainstream," she said.

Shada Islam, Middle East specialist at the European Policy Centre in Brussels, agreed.

"The Europeans have always played a secondary role in this process and that's not about to change," she said, describing the EU as "an invisible hero" who knows that, for the moment, it will not be able to play a prominent role.